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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22486210">Caboose's Guide to Caring for Your Freelancer</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoyFriend/pseuds/JoyFriend'>JoyFriend</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Red vs. Blue</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Chorus Trilogy (Red vs. Blue), Gen, M/M, Multi, Self-Indulgent, no beta we die like men, there's like three (3) people who's deaths are alluded to but we don't talk about that, this is back in like season 10 yall</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:35:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>710</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22486210</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoyFriend/pseuds/JoyFriend</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
      <p>Listen, I wrote this in like 10th grade, literally like 5 years ago. Rvb has moved on and I Am Not Caught Up Whatsoever, but I was going through a rough time and so I wrote a comfort fic because I needed someone else to be comforted and hear the words that I needed to hear, make sense? Listen, I said I was gonna write something self indulgent, and by God I will deliver.</p>
    </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>(IMPLIED), (alluded to), Agent North Dakota/Agent Washington/Agent York (Red vs. Blue), Michael J. Caboose/Leonard L. Church</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>54</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Caboose's Guide to Caring for Your Freelancer</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Listen, I wrote this in like 10th grade, literally like 5 years ago. Rvb has moved on and I Am Not Caught Up Whatsoever, but I was going through a rough time and so I wrote a comfort fic because I needed someone else to be comforted and hear the words that I needed to hear, make sense? Listen, I said I was gonna write something self indulgent, and by God I will deliver.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In hindsight, pushing his cot against the wall and taking cover underneath it probably wasn’t the greatest plan he had come up with. But it gave him a false sense of security and right now, that’s all he needed… even if it was fake.<br/>

He heard someone come into the base slowly. Not quietly. He recognized the footsteps instantly, only one person ever walked like that.</p>
<p>“Sneaking, sneaking, sneaking,” came the intruder, who at least had the sense to partially whisper.</p>
<p>Wash didn’t have time for this. “What do you want, Caboose?” he asked tiredly.</p>
<p>“Oh! Agent Washington! I did not know you were awake. I was just… uh… bringing you some food!”</p>
<p>“Thank you, private,” Washington told him from his fortress under the bed. “But I am not hungry.”</p>
<p>He didn’t turn around, didn’t want Caboose to see his commanding officer in such a state. They needed a leader who would never let them down, someone they could count on.</p>
<p>And right now, he was not that leader.</p>
<p>He heard Caboose sit down, back to Wash’s temporary fort, and take his helmet off. Had it been any other time, Wash would have berated Caboose for leaving himself open to an attack like that. He just… found it hard to care.</p>
<p>“They're worried about you,” Caboose told him, scratching at the floor. “Even Sarge and stupid Tucker, though they wouldn't say so.”</p>
<p>Wash curled up tighter, guiltily. “You should tell them not to worry. I’ll be fine tomorrow. I’m just… not feeling well today.”</p>
<p>“Yeeeeah. I don’t think they’ll believe that.”</p>
<p>The ex-freelancer couldn’t decide if Caboose could tell Wash was lying or if he was just making an overall statement.</p>
<p>“The people you miss?” Caboose started. “Did they ever say goodbye?”</p>
<p>Wash was stunned. “What? What on earth would give you that idea?” </p>
<p>He wasn’t wrong (and they weren't on Earth), but Wash thought he had done a better job of hiding it than that.</p>
<p>“Well you’re doing the things I want to do when I miss Chur— somebody.”</p>
<p>Wash chuckled humorlessly. “I seriously doubt you’ve ever tried to make a battlement out of an army cot and a blanket.”</p>
<p>“Well there was this one time I was trying to make Church my best friend and I ended up almost killing Sargeant.”</p>
<p>“Yeah.” An almost-genuine chuckle. “I guess its pretty hard to top that.” He waited a beat, realizing too late that he was waiting for Tucker to capitalize on his joke.</p>
<p>Caboose was silent for a while.</p>
<p>“Is there something else you needed?” Wash asked, as if they weren’t both men in mourning.</p>
<p>“Hmm? Oh, yes! There was. I was—bringing you food!”</p>
<p>They had covered that already.</p>
<p>“—and you said you didn’t want it now. That’s okay. I’ll just leave it up here for you.” There was the sound of a plate being placed on his bed and the subsequent result of the MREs that had been piled high on it toppling over onto the bed as well. Wash’s stomach rumbled, but the nausea at the thought of actually putting food into his mouth overcame his hunger.</p>
<p>His chest ached. “Thanks.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, it is no problem, Agent Washington! But… uh… um.”</p>
<p>Wash closed his eyes. How many times did he have to tell him? He preferred ‘Wash’. ‘Agent’ made him seem like he was still part of the Project. And just ‘Washington’? Well. That had been reserved for when Carolina or… or North and York wanted to get his attention.</p>
<p>“What is it, Caboose?” he asked, not angry, not irritated, just… tired. He was so tired these days.</p>
<p>“You know. It’s okay to miss someone… even to be sad. You can have a bad day every once in awhile, we all have them. But don’t forget that you have people here, now, who still care about you…”<br/>

Wash was silent. That was… oddly profound compared to who it was coming from.</p>
<p>“… Even if one of those people is stupid Tucker,” Caboose finished with an audible pout. That did it, Wash cracked a grin. It was so unfamiliar and it hurt his cheeks, but it was so utterly Caboose that he couldn’t help but smile.</p>
<p>“… Thank you,” he said quietly, gratefully.</p>
<p>“You are very welcome!” Caboose boomed back.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Idk guys, this is super ooc and overall bad but whatever, it’s self-indulgent so it doesn’t have to be good. I just wanted some feels good for my kids.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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